Power and utilities CEOs are not taking the risk of cyberattacks and damaged infrastructure lightly. A recent survey reveals that 48% of CEOs say an attack against critical infrastructure is imminent. From generation through distribution, protecting critical infrastructure against cyber-attacks while ensuring physical safety and productivity is a top priority. As utilities increasingly adopt business models that connect OT power generation, transmission and distribution assets to IT networks, critical infrastructure is more vulnerable to cyberattack. Fundamental shifts are occurring in the way that they generate and collect data. Because of their distributed locations they have traditionally relied on expensive leased lines or MPLS circuits to provide secure, reliable communications. Secure SD-WAN is a modern solution to meet the needs of secure, distributed communication, without the cost associated with legacy solutions. In this session, we’ll explore how

• integration of SD-WAN into network architectures now enables operators to take advantage of LTE and 5G communications as they become commodity communication mediums
• adoption of distributed computing can be part of a long term strategy that allows power and utilities to take advantage of emerging wireless WAN technologies and data born applications with the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT)
• the Fortinet security-driven networking provides the protection for the remote assets used from generation, transportation and distribution in energy and utilities.